U N I T E D   N A T I O N S
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Integrated Regional Information Network for Central and Eastern Africa

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e-mail: irin@ocha.unon.org


HORN OF AFRICA
IRIN-HOA Weekly Round-Up 363
10 - 16 February 2007


CONTENTS:

ERITREA: Campaign against FGM "is working"
SOMALIA: Ugandan peacekeepers ready to deploy in Somalia
SOMALIA: African Union discusses peacekeeping mission
SOMALIA: Food shortages in the south as insecurity increases
SUDAN: Military solution 'not an option' in Darfur
SUDAN: No let-up in attacks on Darfur aid agencies

ALSO SEE:
SOMALIA: Mogadishu residents back to living in constant danger


ERITREA: Campaign against FGM "is working"

The Eritrean government and civil society have expressed optimism that
efforts to combat female genital mutilation (FGM) were bearing fruit,
saying the campaign against the practice was gaining support in rural
villages where excision was most common.

"We do not have the statistics yet, but we have seen a positive response,
with even village councils coming up with their own provisional laws with
the people's consensus to discourage the practice," Dehab Suleiman, the
head of information and research at the National Union of Eritrean Women,
told IRIN on Wednesday.


SOMALIA: Ugandan peacekeepers ready to deploy in Somalia

The first batch of Ugandan troops is expected in Somalia within a week as
part of an African peace-support mission after the parliament voted in
favour of sending soldiers to support efforts to restore stability in the
strife-torn Horn of Africa country, officials said.

The 1,500 Ugandan soldiers will be part of a 8,000-strong force that the
African Union (AU) and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development
(IGAD) want deployed in Somalia to help the fledgling Transitional Federal
Government (TFG) restore law and order.


SOMALIA: African Union discusses peacekeeping mission

Plans to deploy peacekeepers in Somalia have moved into top gear, with the
African Union looking at initially deploying three operational battalions
from Uganda and Nigeria, officials said.

"Our focus is on the deployment of those three first battalions," Said
Djinnit, AU commissioner for Peace and Security, said on Monday.


SOMALIA: Food shortages in the south as insecurity increases

Families in Somalia's Middle Juba region in the south are consuming
seeds meant for planting because of food shortages, the United Nations
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Somalia
reports.

A recent trip to the region by a team from the International Committee of
the Red Cross (ICRC) reported a "highly alarming humanitarian and
livelihood situation", said OCHA Somalia. The report estimated that
"20,000 families need urgent assistance" in the districts of Jamaame,
Lower Juba region, and in Jilib, Middle Juba.


SUDAN: Military solution 'not an option' in Darfur

A military solution is not an option in ending the crisis in Darfur,
according to United Nations and African Union officials. Instead, the
parties to the Darfur conflict must agree to a peace process.

"There is an acknowledgement that there is simply no military solution to
the Darfur crisis," the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy to Sudan,
Jan Eliasson, told reporters in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, on
Thursday.


SUDAN: No let-up in attacks on Darfur aid agencies

NAIROBI, 12 February 2007 (IRIN) - Attacks against international
non-governmental organisations and humanitarian workers in the Sudanese
region of North Darfur have created "an unsustainable level of insecurity"
for operations, relief workers said on Monday.

The European Union Council, in a statement issued from Brussels, said it
was alarmed by the impact of the deteriorating security situation on the
humanitarian and human rights situation in Darfur.


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